Ocean, Snow and a very old Hat
by Medeus
Summary: A few years after the A Mirage Togepi incident both Misy and Ash wish things would have gone different. Pokeshipping obviously


**a/n: This is my first attempt ever at writing fanfiction in English, so I hope you'll forgive me the grammatical error here and there. That is, if anyone reads this.**

**I have not watched the anime since Misty left, so some things might be a little of.**

**Disclaimer: I do not own Pokemon. I do own Misty though**

**Edit 17/6: I was not quite happy with the original, so I rewrote this to be a oneshot. I took out the poetry as well.**

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After a full day of pokemon training at the coast of route 25, Misty had joined her pokemon swimming. It had been a warm day, but now the sun was slowly descending in the azure sea beyond Cerulean Cape, the water was gradually getting colder.

Misty let her pokemon play a little more in the water while she walked out of the sea and laid back against the grassy dune a few steps away from the water, and watched the sun slowly go down.

While she tried to enjoy the last moments of sunlight and relax, she found it hard to concentrate.

_I'm just stressed because I've been busy battling challengers and taking care of the gym the last few weeks._

Misty sighed.

_That's what I keep telling myself. I miss the traveling, being free to do what I want, having no restrictions. I miss Brock. I even miss Ash. _

She slowly took a deep breath, held it a few seconds, and let go again.

_Especially Ash._

Although she'd been reluctant to admit it at first, Misty knew that the boy had changed the way she was. Misty knew Ash was probably being the most dense person she'd ever met, but that too, was part of the magic that surrounded him.

Of course Misty had her boyfriends as well. One can not be gymleader of Cerulean Gym without attracting a constant stream of fanboys. And although most were just that, fanboys, there had been a couple of nice ones. Ethan had been a really nice boy, but he just hadn't the same spark in his eyes, the glow of adventure, the shining aura of love he had for his pokemon. And only his pokemon.

By now, the sun had turned the clouds just above the horizon a beautiful tint of orange, almost brown. The only place she'd ever seen such a color was exactly 8 years ago, just after she had fished Ash and Pikachu out of the stream. Just before he had "rented" her bike and had taken off to the Pokemon Center to take care of the fainted electric rodent. He really cared about his pokemon, probably more than he ever would about her or any other girl.

A shining little tear found its way along her face as she heard a little voice inside her head whisper the things she didn't want to hear.

_What about May? They certainly seemed to like each other quite a lot the last time you saw them. Even Togetic saw that._

The tears started running down her face as she remembered her last few moments with her most favorite pokemon, and how she had lost her.

_Just look at me, crying like the ten year old I was when I met him. I should be going home and forget about him, exactly the same way he did about me._

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Mt. Silver is not a nice place. It's a cold, remote location, with almost no visitors. Few know there are actually people living there. Apart from a the nurse Joy taking care of the Pokemon Center and movie star hiding for fanboys, there was only one other person. Ash Ketchum.

After he had turned 16, he had attended the Sinnoh pokemon league tournament, and won. From then on Ash was officially known as Pokemon Champion, but that was not where he had been training for all that time. He wanted to be the Pokemon Master and for that, he had to challenge the pokemon Grand Champion.

Cynthia.

After the most epic battle in the history of pokemon, Ash had lost.

_/flashback/_

_Charizard was panting from his battle with Milotic, but after a perfectly executed Seismic Toss, had been knocked out, and she was lying in the dirt. The crowd was ecstatic now both trainers had only one pokemon left. This was going to be a close one._

_Cynthia returned her pokemon, but she didn't seem fazed at all by the strength Charizard had just shown. _

_"You haven't seen anything yet"_

_As Cynthia sent in her last pokemon, the crowd erupted into an explosion of applause. Cynthia's Garchomp was unarguably one of the most powerful pokemon. Ash's Charizard had lost._

_/flashback/_

Ash had lost because he had battled the way he always did. With his heart. Cynthia had anticipated his every move, and had totally crushed him.

But as her Garchomp crushed Charizard, something inside of Ash was crushed too. His confidence was shattered like a mirror colliding with a rampaging Rhydon.

After leaving the stadium, Ash told Brock and Dawn he was going to train somewhere he'd become better. They hadn't understood, but they had accepted his decision. Brock would pass by Pallet and tell Delia about him before heading back to Pewter.

_One day, I will return. One day, I will defeat Cynthia. One day, I will tell Misty..._

* * *

Lyra was cold. Very cold. The darkness inside the caves almost seemed an better option then the howling wind and freezing cold that chilled her to her core.

The Ampharos following Lyra was mostly protected by the woolly fur that protected his body, but he didn't seem to like the temperature either.

_I could use Crobat's fly to get away from this place_

Ampharos could see what his trainer was thinking, and gave her a small electrical shock.

"You're r-right. W-w-we can't st-stop now" Lyra shivered.

At that moment she passed the corner and she was absolutely stunned by what she saw.

At the top of Mt. Silver was Red, the legendary trainer, as she had expected. He was not standing, not waiting for her. He was sitting on the snow covered ground, arms around his knees, head down. Did legends cry?

She walked up to him, but he didn't seem to notice her.

"Hey, what's wrong?"

He finally looked up. His eyes were red were as red as his hat, drenched hair wet from the falling snow.

"Sorry, I'm not accepting challenges today." He was still sobbing.

No matter how sorry she felt for this guy, Lyra couldn't help she was becoming a little angry. Well, more then a little

" So this is it. I have defeated sixteen gymleaders, four Team Rocket Executives, the entire elite four and Champion Lance, seen AND captured more legendary pokemon than most people will ever see in their lives, only to see this. You can not refuse my challenge, for you are a pokemon trainer, just as well as I am. Now dry up your tears and fight!"

There was a lot frustration behind those words, and Red seemed to be more impressed by the tone then the words itself. He straightened his back, stood up and put his hat back on

"I guess it would be highly disrespectful of me to refuse a challenge of a lady like yourself. Let us get started.

Lyra was amazed by the elegance of the words he spoke, and the way he seemed to have put his sorrow behind him for the time being.

"One more thing Ash"

He looked surprised she talked to him like that, although most people didn't yell to him either, it seemed unnatural to him that anyone didn't at least call him Champion. Call it cockiness, but Ash liked the little bit respect he got from his challengers.

"Yes?"

"If you lose, you tell me what's wrong. If I lose, I'll never ask again."

* * *

Misty entered her home, which was built against Cerulean Gym. It wasn't big, but is was enough. As she entered her dark house, she noticed something was different. She kept standing in the doorway, as she shouted

"Anybody home?"

Misty knew nobody should be home, as Lily, Violet and Daisy were still on their tour around Hoenn, enjoying the sun.

Misty noticed one of the lamps above her dining table was turned on, and as she walked towards it, she a small object lying on the table.

It was a hat

It was a hat sporting the official Pokemon League logo.

Ash's hat.

Even though she could now hear someone sneak upon her from behind, she didn't turn around.

"What made you come back?"

"Let's just say someone with a very, very strong will convinced me to."

Misty found it very hard to speak furter, as she suddenly melted away in his arms, his lips pressed against hers.

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**a/n:****I know Red is not the same person as Ash. Sue me.**

**I hate doing the /flashback/ thing, but it was sort of necessary.**

**Anyway, please leave a review, and tell me what I did wrong/what could be better.**


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